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article-tgtimes-Wireless-Wireless-Everywhere.mw (3755B)
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1 .SH tgtimes
2 Wireless, wireless everywhere
3 .2C 56v
4 .
5 .PP
6 Wires! Cables! Connectors!
7 Computer and electric systems seems to befriend with plugs and sockets.
8 Why is the computer industry running away from them for everything exposed to users?
9 .
10 .IP "Where do I plug the cable?"
11 Everyone needfully face this question at least once, be it the first time they own a computer.
12 From the various connector shapes to choose from, to the various set of protocol the Universal USB connector supports,
13 cables provoke confusion to cable-haters and computer neophytes.
14 .
15 .IP "Cables are ugly"
16 It might not be true for everyone, but computer manufacturers seems to say differently.
17 Starting with the name "wireless", that comes by opposition to wires, supposing they were something to avoid.
18 Cable management is a full time job for datacenter jockeys, and a chore for the cable-hating computer user.
19 .
20 .IP "Cables are immobile"
21 Unless making use of an uncommon cable management strategy,
22 objects connected to cables cannot be carried too far away without unplugging everything devices are connected to.
23 .
24 .PP
25 So here comes wireless.
26 While not frequent in large computer infrastructure, wireless is invading the market along with battery devices.
27 Using radio waves to make device talk to each other, at various frequencies, modulation, datarate and distance.
28 Ready to sacrifice any amount of good engineering to make itself more seducing to the market,
29 marketing perpetuates the same illusion of making computer troubles fade away with wireless.
30 .
31 .PP
32 From the Bluetooth protocol swamp of mixed edge-cases and complexity,
33 to the security vulnerabilities of Wi-Fi,
34 to the security vulnerabilities of Bluetooth,
35 to the proprietary but popular protocols like LoRaWan,
36 to the unreliability and unstability as opposed to wires,
37 to the black box of wireless broadband such as UTMS and LTE,
38 Wireless does not have the same fame among developers valuing simplicity and reliability.
39 .
40 .PP
41 Even the United Army holds griefs against wireless such as Bluetooth,
42 and disrecommends it for use by militaries:
43 .FS
44 https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/
45 ARN4771_Pam25-2-9_Final_Web.pdf
46 .FE
47 .
48 .QP
49 Do not use Bluetooth devices to send, receive, store, or process classified information.
50 .
51 .PP
52 This means no Bluetooth keyboard, no Bluetooth headset during phone calls,
53 no Bluetooth sharing between the phone and the computer...
54 In other words, no Bluetooth.
55 .
56 .PP
57 Nontheless, wireless is fun, beautiful, and filled with culture.
58 While marketting pushed engineers from the wireless cliff,
59 long before computer came, radio waves were put at good use in the most simple forms: radio communication.
60 From the AM and FM radio stations to listen while on the road,
61 the medium-range boat, airplane, truck, pedestrian talkies, and even satellite communications,
62 hobbyists building-up their own antennas for inter-continental communication,
63 garage door openners and remotely controlled drones...
64 .
65 .PP
66 Complex and twisted wireless protocols are only a special case of radio communication,
67 and simple unobfuscated methods of communication are possible, and even frequent.
68 .
69 .PP
70 Be it a simple and inexpensive RTL SDR dongle receiver
71 .FS
72 https://www.rtl-sdr.com/
73 .FE
74 or a complete receiver-emitter such as HackRF
75 .FS
76 https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/one/
77 .FE
78 or LimeSDR,
79 .FS
80 https://limemicro.com/products/boards/limesdr/
81 .FE
82 many gears exist for experimenting with radio transmissions.
83 .
84 .PP
85 Every year, the American Relay Radio League (ARRL) is publishing a large book focused on radiocommunication,
86 and its chapter 1 section 1 is \fIDo-It-Yourself Wireless\fR.
87 .
88 .PP
89 This is an invitation for everyone to discover or rediscover the universe of electromagnetic fields communication.